It’s that time of year — trade shows and conferences are now in session. Last month, the Hanna Shea team spent a few days in Las Vegas, Nevada at the 84th national MLM Startup Conference, a biannual event chock-full of in-depth resources and strategies for MLMs that are just getting their feet wet and for any existing companies looking to grow.
The sponsors, Mike Sheffield of The Sheffield Group and Jeff Babener with The Law Office of Babener & Associates, assembled yet another lineup of experienced speakers over the course of the two-day event to share industry best practices and guidance to the startup audience. The pair covered the dos and don’ts within the lucrative industry based on their historical accomplishments and long list of top clients (Avon, Amway, NuSkin, Melaleuca, and many more), as well as Babener’s announcement of his detailed blog FTC vs. AdvoCare: A Teachable Moment for Direct Selling, which addressed the negative connotations of the network marketing industry but, and more importantly, the responsibility that MLM companies must take upon themselves to be fully immersed into and abide by the FTC guidelines to stave off the stigmas and ultimately protect the company and employees.
Attendees heard from the ever-enthusiastic MLM entrepreneur Sandy Elsberg as she shared stories of her journey and valuable insights for the new distributors of the industry in her keynote speech. Other speakers provided details into compensation plans, presidential founders clubs, marketing strategies, and recruiting strategies.
Industry and technology expert Brian Palmer, Thinkbox CEO and co-founder of Krato, discussed the importance of digital communication and provided tactics of how to drive recruitment and growth. In addition to his extensive knowledge and tremendous results from supporting clients, Palmer is a trusted resource with a background of his own MLM startups.
And of course, Hanna Shea’s very own CEO Sean Eggert presented on hiring strategies for direct selling startups and encouraged founders/executives to be more thoughtful when hiring, especially when looking to fill the predominant role of National Director of Sales. Eggert also reminded people just how time-consuming and stressful hiring can be, and why having a dedicated recruiter, whether in-house or external, is essential to finding and building the proper executive team and see long-term success.
With one of the largest turnouts of previous conferences, October’s event was regarded as thorough and memorable. Eager entrepreneurs came in from all over the country — one attendee even flew 20 hours from Nigeria specifically for this event — to absorb as much information as possible, make connections with fellow network marketers and vendors, and begin to formulate and execute on their strategies. From start to finish, the conference room buzzed with excitement and it was clear that the attendees walked away with everything they’d hoped for and more.